Finally, Luke’s fingertips reach the edge of my panties, luckily hidden out of sight beneath the tablecloth. He shoots me a sly sideways smile and runs his thumb over the crease where my thigh meets my hip, just once, pressing hard enough to make a shiver run all the way from the top of my head to my toes. Then he draws his hand away, back to his own lap, and leaves me breathless and panting.
“What about you?” Paul is asking, oblivious to what just transpired, thank god. “How did you pop the question, Luke?”
“Oh, it wasn’t anywhere near that elaborate.” Luke launches into a story of his own, and I make all the right noises, nodding at the appropriate times, as he talks about taking me on a pretty drive through wine country and then just slipping the ring onto my finger at one point.
But all the while, I can’t help noticing neither guy has mentioned this bet of theirs. You’d think that with all the ragging they’ve done on one another—and all of their digging about how the other one met their significant other—it would have come up by now.
Then I glance at Meghan and wonder if Paul told her about the bet. Maybe not. Maybe he thought it would be rude to mention the fact that Luke gambled on Paul never finding a wife.
Doesn’t matter. It seems like Luke and Paul are enjoying themselves, no matter who won their bet. Paul and Meghan seem genuinely happy. And it’s nice to see Luke interacting with a friend who’s not one of our coworkers or a potential client. His smile is just a little more carefree, his attitude even more open than he normally is. It makes me smile, too, watching him.
I can tell it’s going to be a weekend to remember.
6
Later that evening, just after we finish an amazing three course meal, on a different patio deck restaurant than the one where we enjoyed our cocktails, we stumble across a pool party in full swing. There’s a DJ playing, and more than a few hotel attendees decked out in their cutest, most Instagram-worthy bikinis snapping poolside photos and dancing or posing on themed floaties in the pool.
“We have to go get changed and join this,” Meghan yells in my ear, over the sound of the music. “Look, there’s a jacuzzi free!” She springs forward before any of the rest of us can respond to claim a spot at one of the hot tubs next to the pool. I have to admit, with the night air beginning to cool down, and the jacuzzi bubbling and steaming, lit from below by lights that change colors and pulse in tune to the music, it does look pretty appealing.
“What do you think, should we let loose a little tonight?” Luke leans in to murmur in my ear. The hum of his voice tickles my insides and makes my belly clench with desire. Especially when he brings one warm, strong hand to rest on my bare shoulder. I shiver, and this time, it has nothing to do with the faint chill in the air.
“Definitely,” I manage to breathe, leaning into him.
Nearby, someone chuckles. I startle and glance over to find Paul and Meghan grinning at each other, then at us. “Meet you two lovebirds back down here in a few, then?” Paul asks.
My cheeks flush. But Luke doesn’t seem embarrassed by the fact that his friends caught us snuggling. If anything, to judge by the amusement dancing in his expression, he’s enjoying it. Then I remember what he said, about being competitive. About wanting to show me off. A curl of heat unfurls between my legs. Something about the possessiveness, the showing off of how touchy we are, turns me on.
Even more so when Luke takes me by the hand and practically drags me into the elevator, with Meghan over his shoulder teasing us about not getting too distracted up in our room alone. I barely have time to wave at her and promise we’ll be right back before the elevator doors shut and Luke’s kissing me against them, hungry, his hands all over me.
I grin into his mouth and reach up to twine my arms around his neck. “I think your plan to make them jealous is working,” I whisper, smirking.
“Good,” he replies, his voice low and heated. He kisses me again, and then I forget all about his friends, the hotel, everything. All I can think about is Luke. His hands on me, his mouth on mine. When we break apart to hurry down the hall to our room, his eyes are fixed on me, hot as coals.
Inside our room, we barely make it through the door before he pins me against it. “We’re definitely going to be late, aren’t we?” I ask, laughing.
He grins against my neck before he kisses his way further down my body. “Not at all. We just need to get you changed. That shouldn’t take long.” As he speaks, he winds his hands around the hem of my shirt and yanks it up and over my head, dropping it beside us on the ground. His hands slide around to my bra now. He meets my eyes, his own sparkling with mischief. “Unless, of course, you think you’re likely to get distracted by all of this. Are you, Celia?”
I swallow hard around a sudden lump in my throat. “Not at all,” I force myself to say, keeping my voice even, my hands steady. I reach for his shirt, too. “As long as you won’t.” He doesn’t miss the challenge in my gaze, as I tug his shirt off and let it drop beside us.
He bends back down to run his tongue down the groove in the center of my chest. I gasp and let my head fall back, even as I run my hands along his abs, tracing every inch of them, while his tongue does the same to me. God, it feels good when he does that. It’s like he’s savoring every taste he can get of me. His tongue circles my nipple, lapping at it in slow, hard strokes that make it stiffen.
At the same time, I tug on his jeans, eager.
He pauses to smirk up at me. “What was that you were saying, about not getting distracted?” He arches a single, perfect eyebrow. I resist the urge to run my thumb across it.
Instead I just smile as innocently as I can muster, pinned against a door half naked in front of him. “I’m just helping you along. Making this go faster.” I wink, and then manage to get his belt buckle undone.
In response, his tongue dips lower. Past my breasts. I lose my grip on his jeans when he kneels in front of me, and I gasp a little, as his tongue plunges into my navel, swirling around it, flicking at the edges of it, in a way that makes my belly tighten and my thighs clench. My clit feels thick already, swollen with want. I’m sure I’m dripping wet, though I can’t tell for certain until Luke lifts my skirt with nimble fingers.
“No fair,” I whisper, my breath coming harder and faster now. “You stole my idea.”
“I did warn you.” His gaze flashes to mine, not a hint of regret in it. “I like winning.”
I laugh, which quickly turns to a gasp as he pulls my skirt down and off my hips. My underwear slide after them and land on the floor.
When he glances back up at me, he’s smirking, enjoying himself. “Spread your legs, Celia.” There’s a subtle note of command in his tone, one that makes me shiver with pleasure.
I obey him and spread my legs. He doesn’t waste any time. He plunges between them, and I gasp aloud as his tongue rasps along the edges of my lips, tracing me. He runs his tongue up and over my clit, just a quick barely-there flick that nevertheless sends a shockwave of pleasure through my body, I’m already so eager for him.
“Fuck, Luke.” I hiss through my teeth, reaching down to bury my hands in his hair in order to steady myself.
“You taste so damn good, Celia. Have I told you that yet?” His breath feels even hotter against the parts of my body he just licked, namely the sweet, hot place between my thighs. His tongue delves in again, and this time, he presses it between my lips, running along my slit, in a lapping, come-hither motion like he’s trying to lick every drop of my juices from me.
I moan a little at the waves of pleasure that sends through me. My eyelids flutter closed, unable to stay open, as he starts to lick me faster, in slow, steady strokes that nevertheless stoke the fire building deep in my belly. My toes curl, and I arch up onto them, my hands now fisted in his hair, trying desperately to maintain some semblance of control.
But it’s not long before I’m gasping and moaning his name under my breath, the pleasure in me building quickly toward a peak. He knows exactly what he’s
doing, damn him. I’ve never been with a guy who takes this much time on me, making sure my pleasure comes first.
“Right there, Luke, fuck, right there,” I’m gasping, when suddenly, he pulls away, sitting back on his heels to grin up at me. I let out a sudden breath, still shivering. I was so damn close… “Don’t stop,” I cry.
His smile widens. “I thought you weren’t going to get distracted.”
My breath is coming so fast it takes me a couple of seconds to even respond. “That… didn’t count,” I try, lamely.
He just chuckles and rises to his feet. “Don’t worry.” He leans in to kiss me, slow and soft. His tongue parts my lips, and I can taste myself on his lips, our scents mingled in a way that tastes heady, going straight to my brain. When we break apart, his eyes are fixed on me. He looks every bit as hungry, as filled with lust, as I am. “There will be plenty of time later tonight to make you scream. For now…” He reaches up to run his thumb across my lower lip. My eyes flutter half shut, and I part my lips to suck his finger into my mouth, twirling my tongue around him. He groans a little, biting his lower lip, gaze heated where it fixes on mine.
Two can play this game, Luke, I think, smiling back at him.
He steps back, though I can see by the huge bulge in his jeans that he’s not as unaffected by all this teasing as he wants me to think. “For now, we have a date to keep,” he tells me, and grabs his swimming trunks from the wardrobe beside our bed. He catches my eye with a smirk before he heads into the bathroom to change. “Later? Well. Later, I’d like to hear how desperate you are to come. Anticipation makes the release all that much sweeter, in my opinion.”
Easy for him to say. Still, I’ve never been one to shrink from a challenge. I lift my chin and keep my gaze on him, a bemused smile curling my lips. “Later it is, then,” I say, even though my pussy is practically throbbing with the need for release. Oh, I am going to get sweet revenge on him for this move…
7
By the time we meet Paul and Meghan back in the pool area, there’s still a hot tub free. My face is still flushed, my breath a little uneven. But if our friends notice, they don’t say anything. They just make room for us in the tub with them. They look like they’ve been amusing themselves plenty anyway—Meghan is sitting in Paul’s lap, and he has his arms twined around her waist, casually. They’re cute together.
I wonder if we’ll look that cute together a couple years into being together. Then I shake myself, remembering. This is just for the weekend. It’s just about the bet, nothing more.
But that’s hard to remember when Luke slips into the hot tub next to me and pulls me onto his lap too, leaning in to kiss the nape of my neck sweetly, his tongue darting across my skin just for a second, as if to remind me of earlier, in the room. Of just how much pleasure—and frustration—he can cause with that tongue of his.
“You missed the DJ set,” Meghan says. “But I think there’s a new one coming on now.”
“Thank god,” Paul adds. “This one seems more chill.” The music is low enough now that we can hear ourselves talk, which is nice. There’s still a beat to it though, low and steady, the kind that makes me want to move.
Which gives me an idea.
I start to sway to the beat, back and forth across Luke’s lap. Under the water, I can already feel the hard press of his cock through the thin fabric of his swimming trunks. It only gets stiffer as I casually rub my ass back and forth across it, a casual smile fixed on my face, like I’m just dancing to the music.
Behind me, I can hear Luke suck in a sharp breath. See how you like a taste of your own medicine, teaser, I think. When I glance back at him over my shoulder, his eyes are dark and filled with desire, fixed on mine in a way that tells me he knows exactly what I’m thinking. And why I’m doing this.
It makes my smile widen.
Across the hot tub, Meghan slides off Paul’s lap to dance a little, too. “Actually, I really like this one. Do you want to check out the dance floor, hun?” She flashes him a wide grin, and if I’m not mistaken, her eyes do a little sideways dart toward us, quickly, before she nods across the pool floor. There’s a small dance floor near the bar, where a handful of couples are entwined, swaying to the music, especially as the beat starts to get faster, more insistent.
Paul catches my eye, but only for a split second, quick enough that I could’ve been imagining it. Still, I get the feeling they know Luke and I could use a minute of alone time. “Sure.” He grins. “I could use a drink refill too. You guys want anything?”
“Oh, I’m good,” I say. Or I was about to say, anyway. But Luke speaks over me.
“Couple of champagnes would be great, thanks.”
“Sure thing.” Paul flashes us both one last wink, and then climbs out of the hot tub, helping Meghan after him. I barely wait until they’re gone before I spin on Luke’s lap and start to dance again, slower this time, rolling my hips against him in a way he can’t miss.
I can feel the tense and jerk, as his cock jumps between us, so rock hard that I know he must be dying for release.
“Is this revenge?” he asks, grinning, before he brushes my hair back from my shoulder and leans in to nip at the soft skin there gently.
“Maybe,” I admit, slowly twisting my hips side to side. “Or maybe I always give my husband sexy lap dances when we’re in a jacuzzi together.”
“Mm… I married well, then,” he murmurs, his voice a vibration against my neck.
I reach up to drape my arms around his neck and really start to get into the dance. I dip and drag my crotch along his, biting back a gasp as I feel the hard press of his cock dig into my swollen clit for a second. Then I spin in the tub and back up against him, grinding my ass along his thick shaft, undulating my hips and shoulders at the same time, so every inch of my curves is on display.
He tries to hide it, when I turn again to slide my knees up along either side of him, my thighs wrapped around his. But his breath is hitching, and there’s no hiding the heat of desire in his eyes.
His hands trace my sides. “You are so goddamn sexy, Celia,” he murmurs, low and hot, with feeling. It sends a thrill through me, almost as much as when he had his tongue inside me. It’s a heady thrill, knowing how hot I make him. Knowing that I have the same effect on him that he does on me.
I spin again, my back to him once more, and shiver as he tightens his grip on my hips. He’s the one leading me now, my body swaying in tune to his direction, as he moves my hips against him. I feel him arch up against me, the shaft of his cock digging into the soft, hungry place between my legs.
He leans in to whisper, breath hot against my ear. “I think we’ve both waited long enough, don’t you?”
My breath hitches. “But…” My eyes dart around the pool. “Should we go—”
“I’m not about to walk anywhere, thanks to you.” He’s grinning, as he slides a hand over my hip to hook his thumb through my bikini bottoms. “Relax, Celia.” I glance down at the bubbles in the tub. “Nobody will see us.” He’s right. The bubbles hide everything below the surface from view.
Still, I can’t help feeling a thrill of fear—mingled with excitement—as he tugs my bottoms to the side. I can feel him adjusting himself beneath me. His bare cock slides out of his trunks, and he runs it along my ass, pressing the tip between my lower lips, just far enough to touch my entrance and make me suck in a sharp breath. I am so fucking wet. So ready for him.
Still, he hesitates. “Do you want to come for me, Celia?” he whispers into my hair.
“Fuck yes,” I pant. I’ve been dying for release ever since our trip to the room. Ever since he tongued me right up to the edge and them left me hungry for him. Eager to come.
“Tell me how much you want it, wife.”
I tilt my face over my shoulder so my gaze can meet his. The music, the dancers, the rest of the pool, all the hotel guests… it all fades into the background. Right here, right now, there’s only the two of us, alone in the world. “Please make m
e come, husband,” I whisper. “Please. I need to.”
“You need this?” His tugs my hips down against him, just an inch or two. Just far enough for the head of his cock to slip between my pussy lips.
“Yes, husband, I need your cock. I fucking need it.” We’re both whispering, low and hot. The water swirls around us, the bubbles adding to the sensations, tickling my skin, making me even more aware than ever of his every touch. His one hand slides around my front so his palm is flattened across my mound. Then he uses his hand to pull me down onto his cock, agonizingly slowly.
I groan under my breath, my eyes fluttering half shut, as I feel him slowly begin to fill me. He keeps going, so deep inside me that it feels like his cock is buried in my belly, straining against my walls. His one hand tightens on my hip, his other still pressed against my mound—his fingers touch just a centimeter above my clit, like a taunt, like he’s reminding me how easily he could make me lose my mind.
Dimly, I’m still aware we’re in public, in a pool area where anyone could see. Where dozens of people are walking past us, dancing, drinking, laughing, singing. It turns me on even more, knowing how easily we could be caught. Knowing how we’re right out in the open doing this.
Finally, he’s all the way inside me. “Keep dancing,” he says, low and commanding.
I start to move again, wriggling against him, and he bounces me up and down in his lap, just far enough to drive his cock in and out of me, but not hard enough to make the water churn, to make it obvious what we’re doing.
It’s a kind of sweet torture. He’s not thrusting hard and deep, but short and shallow, quick thrusts that drive the head of his cock right along my front inner wall, making me grit my teeth as his spongy tip glides over my G-spot again and again. It doesn’t take long before I’m poised on the brink of orgasm, but he tightens his grip on my hips with both hands now, his fingers digging into my skin hard enough that I’m sure it will leave marks tomorrow. That only makes it hotter, somehow, the tiny tinge of pain in among the pleasure.
Marry Me Now: An Arranged Marriage Collection Page 20